


In A Better Time

by traumingelb



Category: Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken | Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Gay Yearning......., M/M, Pining, no beta just Hope, pure self-indulgent garbage, rated t+ because i say the fuck word a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25023187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traumingelb/pseuds/traumingelb
Summary: an extremely self-indulgent reincarnation au where Everything Is Fine. that's it.
Relationships: Eliwood/Hector (Fire Emblem)
Kudos: 24





	In A Better Time

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written fanfiction in literally 7 years. i did not edit this. do not expect this to be coherent whatsoever. you have been warned
> 
> recommended listening while reading: [The Beach boys - Wouldn't it be nice - 1 hour](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VRscqhxdVg)

There was that flicker of red hair again. Hector had seen it enough times in his life to almost immediately convince himself that it was nothing, that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but it felt so  _ different _ this time that it left an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

Ever since he was young, Hector had extremely vivid dreams of another world, like he had lived through them. That was impossible, though--after all, the faces he recognized from those dreams never spoke of it or seemed to understand when he spoke about it. (Uther seemed particularly confused, but if he's honest, Hector is glad that he doesn't remember.) He probably just had too much pent-up energy or something, he'd concluded. Even if it was real, even if he lived in some other world, what was the point if he was the only one who remembered? Maybe people forgot for a reason.

(Still, he couldn't get the images out of his mind. He remembers fighting by Lyn and Eliwood's sides, giving them a shoulder to lean on during the war, Lyn leaving for Sacae with Florina after the war, and, eventually, telling Eliwood that he loved him just a few months before his death, even if he should've said it decades before.)

So, those flashes of red hair he saw? The green ponytail he saw out of the corner of his eye? Just his mind playing tricks on him. Same old, same old. Sure, he'd hoped that his mind could give him a rest now that he's away at college, but that's too much to ask, apparently. Either way, he had to focus; he had practice, after all, and the only way to keep his hockey scholarship is to, you know, actually be ready to play hockey. (It's not fighting with an axe, but this was close enough, Hector had supposed.) Almost all the sports teams had come a week before the normal first-year orientation to get a leg up on practicing, so he had to make this time count before he had to start worrying about academics. Ignore the laugh in the distance that sounds painfully familiar, don't stare too hard at the redhead on the other side of the cafeteria. Simple enough.

Or so he thought.

It's the Friday before the beginning of his first semester, and every incoming first-year student is split into a group and shuffled to the various lectures of orientation...mainly lectures about how underage drinking is wrong, where to park on campus, how to buy overpriced textbooks for your classes. Absolutely riveting. So riveting, in fact, that Hector nearly fell asleep in his chair, only waking because an overly enthusiastic upperclassman announced that they were taking a break for lunch, attempting to herd all the students to the closest cafeteria while the other group filed out of their own lectures...and that's when Hector's heart stopped.

Fuck.

Suddenly, Hector's heart is starting again, and it feels like it's about to beat straight out of his chest. It's Eliwood--as in, _ his _ Eliwood, looking young as ever, hand in hand with both Ninian and Lyn. (How the fuck did he even manage that?) It's like his feet are frozen to the floor, because he can't move, he can't call out, all he can do is _ stare _ . He opens his mouth, and before he can say anything, he makes eye contact...not with Eliwood, still chatting with Ninian, but with Lyn, whose expression first flashes with recognition before she raises an eyebrow. He's not sure what face he's making, but Hector makes some sort of expression that Lyn understands, and she motions towards Eliwood with her eyes and head, raising both her eyebrows now. Hector blinks, suddenly hesitant. Shit, is this _ really _ the first time he's hesitating in his life? He doesn't need to hesitate, he tries to remind himself. The last time he saw Eliwood, he said he loved him, and Eliwood--before he can even finish that thought, Lyn is tugging on Eliwood's sleeve, Ninian catches his eye, and then suddenly, time stops.

Eliwood is staring directly at him, and for the first time since he was small, Hector is crying.

Apparently, Eliwood doesn't need to say a word to indicate that he knows what's going on, either, because he squeezes Ninian's hand, steps towards him, then reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a fucking  _ handkerchief _ . Who even carries those anymore? Someone who was a marquess in another life, that's who. It's this gentle shade of blue, there's an embroidered design--Eliwood's doing, probably, he probably hand-stitched it and  _ fuck _ , his hands look so soft--and it is just  _ too nice _ for this day and age, what the fuck? Before Hector can do any more internal monologue about the pure absurdity of any normal human being carrying a handkerchief in their shirt pocket in the 21st century, said handkerchief is gently dabbing his tears away, even if Eliwood is visibly tearing up, too.

"Don't say a word about being sorry." Eliwood says, then manages a small smile and adds, "I'll scold you about that later."

"Geez, I don't get a break, huh?" Hector laughs, which prompts Eliwood to immediately shake his head.

"Get a room, you two!" Lyn calls out, wrapping an arm around Ninian's waist and escorting her away from this  _ absolutely scandalous  _ public display of affection, "Go hash it out in your dorm or something, we've got an hour for lunch."

Oddly enough, that's not a bad point. Usually, both of them would be pretty hungry now (and, well, Hector is definitely craving some sort of caffeine to try and stay awake through the rest of orientation), but right now, both of them have enough butterflies in their stomach that eating just seems to be out of the question. So, Eliwood looks at Hector, then carefully leads him away from the crowd, holding his hand tightly and staying silent until they're far away enough that they can get some modicum of privacy.   
  


"...My dorm is too far away, we won't be able to sit down before we have to leave again." Eliwood says, and it's only then that Hector notices that the redhead is blushing all the way to the tips of his ears. What, is holding hands too much for him--wait, no, he was holding hands with Lyn and Ninian before. What, then? It couldn't be the pure yearning of it all, he knows that Eliwood  _ absolutely _ was not the type to have held on to these feelings this whole time, even if all of his touches have been so painfully gentle and he's been blushing, and...wait, shit, he's on a tangent again.   
  


"I'm nearby, but I still haven't unpacked. So we should only go if--" Hector starts.

"Let's just find somewhere to sit outside, then." Well, that was a quick response on Eliwood's part. Not that he blames him, considering Hector's been here for a whole week and just...hasn't unpacked yet. (Hey, he's been busy! It's been long days practicing!)

Soon enough, the two of them settle in a surprisingly empty area, and Eliwood, ever the gentleman, tugs off his jacket that he is inexplicably wearing in  _ fucking August _ and places it on the ground for the two of them. (Seriously, is he part of the nobility again in this life, or did he just take his dreams to heart and decide to LARP them all the time?) For a few minutes, a silence falls over them as they settle down, quickly finding a way to hold hands again and ever-so-carefully lean against each other.  _ This isn't like before, _ Hector tries to remind himself,  _ You don't have to keep up a chivalrous act.  _ He's known he's loved Eliwood for a long time now, so moving so slowly is absolutely agonizing.

This time, it's Hector that breaks the silence, deciding to start with one of the more awkward questions. Better sooner than later, right? ...Right?

"So, are you and Ninian…"

"Gods, no!" Eliwood nearly yelps, his face as red as his hair at this point, "We--there was a summer camp when we were in high school, we tried, it didn't..." he fumbles over his words for a moment, then decides on, "We're friends. I play piano at her dance rehearsals sometimes. She likes girls more than I do."

"Oh, she still dances?" Hector responds, prompting a look from Eliwood that practically says,  _ that's what you got from that statement?  _ "I mean, not everyone...stuck with what they were doing before, you know? New life, new chances and all." Or just because someone would call the fucking police if they saw Hector swinging an axe around.

"We all managed to stick with it, I guess. Ninian does dancing, I know there's a Rebecca doing archery with Lyn, I do fencing--"   
  
" _ You do fencing??? _ " Hector says, sitting up at that. If anyone was going to move away from fighting, after all, he'd think it was Eliwood. Sure, fencing is objectively safer than any of their old sparring matches, but still... "Wait, does this mean we can spar?"

"I'm going to scold you for past life transgressions while we do, but yes." Eliwood responds, eventually coaxing him to sit back down so that he can rest his head on his shoulder. (To hide his beet red face? Possibly. Or maybe just because this sort of intimacy is nice, not that he'd admit it.) There's a pause, and then, "Is your family okay?"

"...Yeah. Everyone's fine now. Yours, too?" Eliwood nods, and soon enough, the two of them settle back into conversation just like they always did before, this time with the added bonus of updating each other on their former comrades' lives. Ninian and Nils were adopted by a nice family when they were young, Lyn's parents are alive and live peacefully with her grandfather, Matthew and Leila had found each other again, this time with a lot less at stake. 

As the conversation continues on, the two of them gradually drift closer together, an arm being draped around the other's waist or a hand resting on the other's chest. It's unbearably close, Hector thinks, considering the other male is still flushed bright red even after an hour, and--

Wait, fuck,  _ an hour? _

Hector pulls away, checking his phone, and, sensing the urgency, Eliwood checks his, too.

"We're late." Eliwood says with a sigh, scrolling through the no less than 3 million texts from both Lyn and Ninian asking where he was. (Of course, Lyn also took the opportunity to make fun of Eliwood, implying that he was doing  _ things _ with Hector, but at this point, that was inevitable.) "We can have dinner after this? And we can spar, and--" He trails off, picks up his jacket, then hands his phone to Hector, "Put in your number so I can call you." 

Hector fumbles with the phone for a moment, then hands it back, standing up and positioning himself next to the other male. "Race you there?" He asks, and after a nod from Eliwood, the two of them are off, sprinting back to the proper building.

Admittedly, it's a tough race, but Hector does manage to win by a few seconds, and there's a part of him that knows that Eliwood is already starting a win/lose count in his head. The redhead is trying to catch his breath, but even between short breaths, he manages to make his way to Hector, pressing the most chaste kiss to his lips before heading to his designated room.

"More of that later, okay?"

And though Ninian and Lyn tease him for the entire afternoon about it, Eliwood spends the entire lecture on cloud nine.

* * *

The rest of orientation is, to put it lightly, suffering. About an hour in, Hector's stomach realizes that he didn't eat, and even texting sneakily (to Eliwood, certified Bad Boy™ for texting when he should be listening to whatever random speaker they've brought in, but also to Lyn, who almost immediately settles into a familiar banter with him) doesn't bring back the butterflies in his stomach that kept him from feeling hungry earlier.  _ Shit. _ At the very least, they've been able to solidify their plans--he and Eliwood are going to eat dinner quickly, then go have a proper sparring match.

* * *

Naturally, Hector doesn't have the proper fencing equipment. Why would he? It's not like Eliwood has spares to go around, either, and even if he did, it would probably be too small.

"There's some foam swords in storage for children's classes, I think." Eliwood ponders as they step into the athletics building, luckily empty aside from a few stray students, "It's no Armads, but..."

"It works." Hector cuts him off with that reassurance. Objectively, he'd rather it  _ not _ be Armads...not because Armads was bad or anything, it just--okay, yeah, it did eventually result in his death, so it was bad. Maybe he could admit that.

Eliwood nods, and God, the  _ look _ of hesitation that he gives Hector when he has to step away into the storage room. You'd think that they were parting to go to war (they better fucking not) or that their world will end as soon as they stop holding hands ( _ parting is such sweet sorrow _ , he suddenly remembers from eighth grade English class--he hesitates to let go of Eliwood's hand, and  _ oh, that he were a glove upon that hand, that he might touch that cheek _ ...), not that they're spending a grand total of probably five minutes apart. Miraculously, the two of them survive the separation, presumably because Eliwood hurries and comes out with two foam swords in less than three minutes. (Any longer, they probably would've both been dead, and then they would've had to start this whole thing all over again!) 

The two of them find a secluded spot in the building, they get settled, and this time, Eliwood thrusts his sword out first. (He's a little off-kilter, he notices--presumably because the foam sword is much lighter than he's used to.)

"You weren't supposed to die so early." Eliwood says as their swords collide with a very non-metallic  _ slap _ .

"Wait, you were being serious about scolding me later? I..." A foam sword is, admittedly, nothing that Hector is used to sparring seriously with, but it's probably the most socially acceptable thing he can wield right now. He mainly relies on muscle memory, but it absolutely does not help that he always skimped on his sword training. (He will not, and he repeats,  _ not _ think of the fights he's gotten into in hockey and emulate from there. Hockey sticks are also banned weapons.) "You weren't supposed to, either! If you got sick like that now, you'd probably just take some antibiotics and be fine in a few days!"

"Well, yeah, but that's not the same thing as taking a f--" Eliwood stumbles over his words, realizing that he probably shouldn't say the fuck word, even if it's absolutely warranted in this case. Hector takes the moment of weakness, gaining the upper hand and breaking through his defenses. "You took a cursed axe and you  _ died _ , Hector! I just got into some germs!"

"You got into some germs? Gross."   
  
"Oh, hush up, you!" Eliwood lets out a laugh at that, so at the very least, he doesn't seem mad about it, parrying to the side in an attempt to get away from the other male.

"Cranky because I'm winning, aren't you, Eliwood?" They're both laughing now. This isn't like before, sure--neither of them want it to be--but it's close enough, so they're happy as it is, even as Hector backs the other male into a wall, eventually dropping his sword to hold his hand instead. (He likes holding his hand better, anyway, Hector concludes.)

"We're finally even, then?" Eliwood says, then elaborates when Hector raises an eyebrow, "...You know, because the last time we sparred, you were at 28, I was at 29, and we had eight draws. So we're even now."   
  


"I can't believe that's what you decided to remember." He chuckles, leaning in and resting his forehead against Eliwood's.

The first time they properly kiss each other, it's awkward; noses bump into each other, both of them are sweaty and out of breath, Eliwood nearly falls over because he decides he needs to cup Hector's cheeks, to make sure that this is  _ real _ somehow and not objectively the worst dream he's ever had (and yes, he is counting the ones where he died, where Hector died, and where his parents died). It's short-lived--really, they were both out of breath as it is--but, in both of their eyes, it's more than enough.

* * *

The two of them eventually journey back to campus, first stopping at Hector's dorm so he can get a proper change of clothes, then back to Eliwood's dorm for the night. ( _ I don't have a roommate, so there's more privacy, _ he said, looked around the room, and then added,  _ and I actually have sheets on my bed. _ ) (Damn, bitch, you live like this?) The night ends with the two of them attempting to squeeze together on the dorm's crappy twin-size mattress, Hector's back pressed against the wall as the two of them curl up together. It's starting to get late, and they both were up since early that morning, so it's no surprise when Eliwood yawns, tucking his head back against Hector's shoulder.

"You can sleep, you know." The blue-haired male murmurs, brushing a little hair out of the other's face.

"I'm not tired." Eliwood lies as he struggles to keep his eyes open. "I could stay up until dawn."

"Well, I'm tired. I'm sleeping right now." Hector lies right back at him. Two can play at this game. He closes his eyes, making the most blatantly fake snore he can muster, and he tries not to start when Eliwood reaches up, sleepily patting his hair.

"Oh. Good night, Hector." Eliwood says softly. "Love you. I didn't know how to say that last time, but I do."

Wait, what?

Hector sits up, hoping that Eliwood would  _ maybe _ elaborate a bit, but somehow, he's already out like a light. He nudges him, calls his name a few times, but nope, he stays asleep. Who fucking taught him to sleep though everything? Once it's obvious that Eliwood isn't waking up, Hector lets out an exasperated sigh, wrapping the blankets around the two of them and dozing off.

"I love you, too." He lets out just before falling asleep.

* * *

Early the next morning, Eliwood is woken by sunlight wafting through the blinds on his window. Groggily, he leans over to check the time on his phone, only to be stopped by an arm wrapped loosely around his waist.

Oh, this wasn't a dream, Eliwood reminds himself as he turns to look at Hector again.

Given the opportunity, he takes in the sight, trying to memorize each detail, everything that's different from what he remembers. He can't see many scars, if any at all, for one thing, not even from shaving mishaps...and considering he can see stubble, not a full-on beard like before, he has to assume there were many, many mishaps. It's good, Eliwood reminds himself, because it means that he's been safe. Nobody is getting hurt this time.

Just like before, there's a hesitation when Eliwood decides to get up. It's not like Hector is going anywhere, considering he's half asleep, and he doesn't exactly have enough upper arm strength to move him on his own. The day has to start, though, so he presses a little kiss to the other male's forehead, then quietly shimmies out of bed.

Half an hour later, Hector absolutely wakes up in Heaven. No other option.

He wakes up in a warm bed with the smell of fresh coffee brewing and the sound of Eliwood humming...something, no idea what. More importantly, he opens his eyes to find the other male halfway through getting dressed (back facing Hector, like he has to stay modest for some reason), so he has  _ absolutely _ died and went to a better place.

"Fuck, I missed this." Hector murmurs, prompting Eliwood to turn around, shooting a glare at him as he buttons his shirt.

"Language." Eliwood furrows his eyebrows, "I'm getting you a swear jar."

"Do it, I fucking dare you." Hector gets another glare, then the two of them chuckle, settling down on the bed again. "The world isn't going to end if we stay here for a little longer, right?"

Eliwood shakes his head and squeezes Hector's hand again. At least for now, it feels like everything is going to be okay. 

Everything is okay.

**Author's Note:**

> and then they get gay married and live forever, the end.
> 
> \--
> 
> 1) please do not tell me that the way i wrote sports is wrong. i know it is. i have never seen a sport in my life. i will never change
> 
> 2) thank you very much to my friend tristan for letting me bounce this off him and threatening to fight me as i wrote this. very appreciative that you could Bear it
> 
> also, i'm on [twibber](https://twitter.com/barnabybabybump) if you want to watch me not write fanfictions or talk about fire emblem, i might respond if you message me but quite frankly, i am so anxious that i may not


End file.
